1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a camera module of a mobile communication device, and more particularly, to an apparatus for controlling a rotation angle of a camera module of a mobile communication device.
2. Description of the Related Art
Mobile communication device is a term used to indicate devices such as mobile telephones, cellular telephones, personal communication systems (PCS), personal data assistants (PDAs), lap top computers and other devices having radio communication capabilities.
Currently, mobile communication devices provide more than just voice or data transmission functions. They also offer Internet capabilities and other multimedia functions. Additionally, mobile communication devices can be provided with a small-sized camera module for photographing an object. A device can transmit the photographed image to another mobile communication device or receive a picture therefrom. The picture can also be transmitted to an immobile communication device such as a desktop computer.
FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a conventional mobile communication device, and FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along line II-II of FIG. 1.
As shown in FIG. 1, the conventional mobile communication device 1 includes a main body 10, a folder 20 rotatably installed at one side of the main body 10 by a hinge portion 30 and a camera module 40 installed at an upper surface of the folder 20.
As shown in FIG. 2, the camera module 40 is fixed in a camera-mounting cavity 21 formed at an upper surface of the folder 20. The camera module 40 is electrically connected to a main printed circuit board (not shown) of the main body 10 through a flexible print circuit board 41.
In a conventional mobile communication device as described above, the camera module 40 is fixed to a bottom surface of the camera-mounting cavity of the folder 20. For this reason, it is very difficult for a user to control a photographing angle (or rotation angle) of the camera module 40 at will.
Specifically, because the camera module 40 is fixed to the folder, a user must necessarily move the entire mobile communication device 1 in order to properly position the camera module 40 in front of the object when taking photographs. This is particularly of great inconvenience when photographing a moving object because the user must continuously move the entire device to follow the object.